Worlds Apart
by Admiralkirk
Summary: It's been one year since Adam saved the world, Baird and Cole have left to colonize the mainland but Sam feels she's got life to easy and decides to pay them a visit. She'll learn things that may change her life and may even wish she hadn't left Azura in the first place. May change to M if I feel it's becoming to graghic, no inappropriate scenes.It should say Sam is a character too
1. Search for the harder life

**Worlds Apart**

**A/N Ok so maybe this isn't what the few people who read my ClaytonxSam story expected as my newest thing. Personally I still have ideas for that story and its continuation and I hope you guys like it when it comes out but that will probably be during the summer when school is over because they're getting deathly close to final exams. For anyone who is reading the version of this on Joel's drabble thing, sorry there hasn't been anything new lately. I got another one coming soon. It will almost definitely be about Silas and Ember from her story Dishonored. I apologize in advance if I don't get Sam's speech right, I spent a few minutes trying to tell how to spell Oi! I've wasted enough time talking let's go. If you guys didn't notice this is f'ing huge it's just over 8.5 thousand words long and I wanted this to be a oneshot but I couldn't so please wait for the next one.**

1 year after the firing of Fenix's super weapon ending the Locust war and Lambent pandemic.

Sam had just made her way back to her room after grabbing some groceries from the market. She opened the gold trimmed door, or at least that's what it used to be before the COG scavenged all valuable metals they could find. The door swung open without a creak and she entered the large room that had its own kitchen. Most of the rooms had kitchens, the finest for the COG's best.

She laughed "Yup the COGs best, the rag-tag bunch of grunts left of our shitty military" she thought for possibly the billionth time since she got here. It still disturbed her that Prescott had used all the COGs remaining resources to build this huge tower for the smarties. Hell, she wondered why Baird wasn't a part of the lucky few. He was damn smart, despite how much of an asshole he was.

Speaking of Baird, he had moved away from Azura three months after they had secured Azura with the few who wanted to go back to the mainland and find cities that would be habitable when Azura got too crowded. She understood the reasoning but she couldn't possibly go, she lived like shit all through the war and she wasn't going to pass up her life here on this beautiful island.

Although she did miss the blond since she didn't have someone to be angry at anymore, she'd never tell anyone this but she enjoyed the loud arguments she and Baird had. It was just so much fun and she could hit all his buttons, she knew he hated it but she secretly looked in a crumpled up piece of paper he wrote on then threw out once just so she could find something new to piss him off.

She remembered the day she last saw him…

9 months ago…

The Gorasni ship that Baird, Cole and Clayton had 'requisitioned' when they had gone for a sub was at port right now with men loading boxes of supplies on. Sam was walking towards the operation out of her COG armor besides her belt, which for some reason she liked to wear still. Her outfit was a green tee-shirt and jeans. They had found a lot of clothing left over from all the dead smarties and onyx guards but they weren't enough. They had started making more clothes with the few sewing hands they still had and she had actually traded her pistol for this get-up.

As she walked over she saw a familiar face, Cole, he decided to come since he wanted to see Hanover if he could and see if any of the cougar stadium people had made it out. He had grown a bit attached to them because of their hospitality and wanted to start up Thrashball again. She had her doubts that any survived but he had a goal and right everyone needed one since everyone was so damn bored. Nobody had had to entertain themselves for an extended period of time since the war was always on every few hours, but now everyone was at piece and all the jobs had been basically finished. Hell Baird had fixed all the elevators, vehicles, alarm systems and anything else by now. He even scrounged up a few spare parts and made her a replica rat bike based on her original one that she had saved back on Vectes but when the Sovereign went they had to evacuate too fast and it was lost. She never knew why he did it, probably out of boredom but his excuse was "Here, so you won't bitch at me as much" it didn't help.

Anyway back to Cole, he was helping carry a particularly large box with another gear and she said "Oi! Cole, how's the labor going?"

Cole said with a slight chuckle "Fine Byrne, come to say goodbye to Blondie"

Sam rolled her eyes "Ya he wishes. I know how close you are to him, but are you sure you wanna go, it will be a quite a bit more boring without you around. We'll only have Clayton to amuse us now"

Cole shook his head "Sorry Sam but Baird's my man and knowing him he'll piss off the wrong guy and I'll have to save him"

Sam chuckled "Well Cole I hope the Stranded are as happy to see the war over as we are because I really hope they don't start attacking"

Cole said "Well that's why we're bringing all these supplies baby! Well sorry to stop this conversation but this box is getting heavy and Peters isn't gonna hold this much longer" They could see the other gear named Peters struggling and they walked off. Sam walked to the non-supply ramp to get onto the ship. She saw several gears and civvies that had tagged along with what was left of the COG on board preparing for their departure.

She wasn't surprised to see a truck being lifted down into the cargo bay by a crane and boxes full of ammo, weapons, living equipment and communication equipment everywhere. Most gears had a bag with their personal belongings. She was actually looking for Baird despite what she said to Cole and wasn't surprised to hear him over the com speakers of the ship they had installed.

"This is Captain Baird speaking; if you look to the port side you may see Samantha Byrne joining us. Cover your boys because she's a ball buster… thanks you"

She laughed and looked up to the bridge and saw him in the window putting down the mike and leaving the room probably to come talk to her and soon he was on the main deck walking towards her with a white captain's hat.

"Captain Baird huh? I never thought you to be one" Sam said as he approached.

He rolled his eyes and said "Well I was a lieutenant once… for one day" he said.

She said "So why were you busted down?"

He thought about answering the question but finally said "That's too long a story right now, so why'd you bring your rain cloud to my 'fine ship" he may be the captain but he still thought the ship was a piece of crap, he mentioned that the engine cut out halfway to Azura when he first got it and only his magic fingers were able to get it going.

Sam said "I just wanted to say good riddance to my favorite asshole" he laughed.

He rolled his eyes and said "Ya sure, so get whatever last minute insults you have out of the way"

She smiled and said "No I actually came to say goodbye Baird. I gonna miss… Cole" she laughed having led him on but he was unfazed.

"Ya that's one thing I know I won't miss when I find a nice secluded place out in the city, but if you see him tell my first mate he needs to be up at the bridge at launch" Baird said checking the watched he had looted from a drawer.

Sam chuckled and said "Will do… don't go and smash into any rocks harder than your head ok?" she said "I wouldn't want to learn our favorite thrashball player and your crew was plastered on a rock after the war"

Baird said annoyed "Don't question my sea fairing skills, my parents were part of the yacht club" he said making a rare reference to his past, but he figured this was the last time he'd see her so what the hell.

Sam nodded and said "Well… I guess this is goodbye, Baird" she said. Surprisingly she felt something tug at her heart and realized which she hated, that she was losing a piece of her family.

Baird said "Ya, ya group hug" in a bored emotionless voice making Sam scowl on the inside but knew it was Baird being Baird.

She nodded and left as the warning horn came to tell everyone that the boat was about to cast off. She walked down the ramp and walked through the crowd finding Anya and Marcus and stood beside them as the boat started to move out of port.

She saw Cole at the small walkway outside the bridge waving to them and they waved back but Baird nowhere to be seen, probably inside controlling the ship.

Soon the ship was on the horizon on its mission to find new homes when Azura overpopulates, even though most wanted to go back to their homes, try to find adventure or in vainly find something to shoot.

As the boat disappeared into the distance only a few others were around including all of Delta squad who also realized they had lost some of their family but soon dispersed to go to their other duties, even though they had none.

Present day…

Sam broke from her trance and realized she had unloaded all her groceries and had almost finished a sandwich for lunch and said "Wow that was odd"

She finished making her sandwich and sat down to eat and flipped on the large TV that every room had and watched the one channel they had going from the crappy radio tower they had built. It was the news and it was just ending for the second half of the days programming. It was usually old videos people had kept a hold of or scrounged up so it obviously got really boring since it was constantly boring. She actually knew almost the entire movie Jaws off by heart. She heard that they had been able to make more cameras now and they were making home made movies so maybe there would soon be some more exciting stuff on.

She was done eating when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to see Anya.

"Hey Anya, what's up?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Hey Sam, I wanted to stop by because we finally got a signal from the guys we sent out 9 months ago" Anya said excitedly.

Sam said "Really, I wasn't expecting to hear from them again with Baird in charge"

Anya chuckled "You still can't be ripping on him still. Besides he's not actually in charge. Apparently once they reached a city they thought would be acceptable, which ironically was Hanover, Baird gave up his leader role and lives a bit further away from everyone in his make-shift mechanic shop" she explained thoroughly.

Sam asked "What of Cole?"

Anya said "Like he said, he made a small thrashball league and amazingly did find some of the Cougar stadium people who joined including some of the people who had come along with them"

Sam smiled happy for the Big Man and said "So who exactly is in charge?"

Anya said "Well some guy who came with them has kinda take unofficial charge of all them and they're intermixing with the stranded surprisingly well"

Sam nodded and said "Well that's good" she didn't know what else to say, she had never thought about this since they left and suddenly felt like she wanted to see them.

Anya said "Well I'll see you later; I got to meet Marcus for our date night"

Sam said "Have fun!" she couldn't understand how those two could possibly have good dates when Marcus barely talked but whatever was good for them.

She suddenly felt like a walk and decided to go down to the communication centre to ask about anything else that's going on with the travelers at the mainland.

She entered the room to find a gear sitting there half asleep with a headset on listening to nothing probably. She walked over and tapped his shoulder startling him and he looked up "Oh, Byrne what's up" he said stretching his arms.

Sam was well known around by the gears and they respectfully called her Byrne instead of Sam "Hey, I heard about Bairds crew had finally messaged us back? We gonna respond to that at all?"

He said "Ya they needed some supplies and we are gonna send some heavy ravens over to assist them, luckily this island had lots of old fashion fuel for us to use"

Sam nodded and asked "When's that gonna happen?"

He shrugged "Probably tomorrow, I bet lots of people will be happy to be doing something different again if you wanna help out?"

She nodded and thanked him for the info and he fell back into his chair to relax.

Sam thought this new information over and thought "Well I could go over there to say hello but then I may not have a way back" maybe she could ask the pilot a favor and get him to wait for her while she did her quick errands. She could imagine it now when she found Bairds crap shack of a garage.

"Oh look what the cat dragged in" he'd say when she saw him come in.

She chuckled at the thought decided to ask Anya tomorrow before they left for some advice. She spent the rest of the day hanging out in various places and even played some cards with Carmine, Jace and a few other people betting their made up money which was actually tooth picks. Ya one of those things you either didn't use of took for granted was the most numerous thing on the island so they used it as currency.

After that she went to bed get some rest and thought about what might happen tomorrow.

Sam woke in the morning, yawned, stretched quickly then got up for some breakfast. She had some coffee and toast and soon got dressed to find Anya.

She walked down the hall about four doors down until she reached the door Anya and Marcus lived at and knocked on the door. She was happy to see Anya in a gown with a mug of coffee and smiled to her seeing she looked relaxed meaning last night went well.

"Hey Sam, why you here so early?" she took a sip of her drink.

Sam said "I need some friendly advice on something that's happening today"

Anya nodded and let her in and Sam saw Marcus sitting at the small table they used as a kitchen table with only pants on showing his large chest that no matter what always attracted any women's eyes and nodded in hello. Sam waved to him too and sat with Anya at the table.

"So what you wanna talk about?" Anya asked. Marcus didn't seem to pay attention reading the Azura times; their made up paper, but everyone knew he was listening anyway.

Sam took a second to think about how to say this and said "You know how you told me about how we finally got contact with Baird and his men again, well…"

Anya suddenly grew a small smile "You want to go see if Cole and Baird are ok, don't you? I told you, the coms said they were fine, Baird even found his own place"

Sam said "Ya I know but I want to see for myself, I want to see the big guy finally having fun again, and messing with Baird wouldn't hurt"

Marcus made a slight grunt like he chuckled but held it back enough and Anya said "Well I bet he doesn't miss you, he probably hated that you and him argued constantly. Especially on Vectes, you gave him so much trouble for his bathroom office"

Sam laughed remembering those days when he sat in the bathroom for hours avoiding people at all cost sometimes doing work sometimes doing nothing. She constantly patronized him about his 'throne' and he totally hated it.

"Those were the days" Sam said making Anya nod in approval

"So even if you wanted to go see them, we're not gonna waste the fuel to give you and only you a ride" Anya said making Marcus nod since he had put down the paper and was fully paying attention now.

Sam said "That's the thing, I talked to the communication guy and he said the Brass is gonna send a small supply run over for them in a few King Ravens. I kinda thought I could hitch a ride"

Marcus piped in this time "I heard about that, they won't wait for you, if you go it's a one way trip until another raven comes to drop off supplies again, which according to our supplies we have right now will be awhile"

Sam frowned but said "Maybe I can get them to wait for me to come back?"

Anya shook her head "No they can't, they have to back by 3 o'clock for some work transporting some materials across the island. Since Baird left a lot of stuff has gone into disrepair and those two Ravens are the only operating ones at the moment"

Sam frowned and saw how bad the decision would be if she went and said "Oh, Then I probably shouldn't go then" she said but Anya had some more to say.

"Don't worry Sam; I'll use my connections to get you a raven back if you go. It may take some time to get our Gorasni friends to let another copter fly out there but I will try so you aren't stranded there" The Gorasni controlled all the Ravens since they all came from the allies that assisted them that Baird and Cole found so whenever they needed them they had to ask them for them.

Sam looked at her friend and smiled "Thanks Anya, I'll consider it"

Marcus said "You better choose quickly, the birds are heading out in an hour"

Sam said "Shit, this early?"

Marcus got up to go get dressed but nodded.

Sam thought quickly and asked "What do you think Anya?"

The blond gear thought and said "Well if you go, go tell those two we all miss them, ok?"

Sam nodded and said "Thanks for the help, I'll try to figure this thing out by myself"

Anya nodded and let her leave taking another sip of her coffee.

Sam walked through the hall back to her room and opened the door. She said down on her bedside and thought "_Ok I can either go, say hello, then wait for however long it takes for Anya to get me a ride. OR I can stay here and enjoy my life here_" She looked at two options, either finish something more personal and see her two metaphorical family members or just stay here and relax like she had for almost a whole year.

She looked around the hotel room and saw the big TV, who needed that? She saw the lavish kitchen, her nice wardrobe, hell she even had puffy pink slippers. That's when it hit her, she hated this. She had spent almost all her life fending off starvation first at Anvil Gate then with the COG forces. She was so used to living off the bare necessities and all this stuff was making her soft. She went to the gym on a regular basis but she was in this utopia and realized right now that what she needed was a vacation from this vacation.

That's what decided it she walked to her closet and grabbed her things; she only packed a few sets of clothes. She grabbed her Lancer having kept it all this time even when they had to hand them all in to either keep in storage or scrap for materials. She wasn't going to let some punk take her lifelong friend and ally and scrap it. So she grabbed that too and put it in her suitcase. She grabbed some quick snacks like chips, nuts, and any other non perishable food items she had and found she had no more room in her bag. She almost wanted to pack more but she said "Wait! Just another one of my new relaxed lifestyle habits. Got to have more, well not this time. This is all I need… except my armor, knowing the stranded they be a bit more deterred seeing a woman in COG army and a Lancer, but whatever she could kick most men's asses.

She opened the door to see Anya there about to knock and lowered her arm then saw the suitcase "You're actually doing it?!"She wasn't worried more surprised letting her pass since the helicopters would be leaving pretty soon.

Sam walked on letting Anya catch up and said "Ya, I realized all these luxuries and relaxation have been getting to me and I need a vacation"

Anya laughed as they entered the elevator to go downstairs "If you haven't noticed this is like a vacation"

Sam shook her head "No, this place is making me soft, I even caught myself wanting to pack more when I picking stuff to bring. I need to get ut of here awhile and live in a 'bare minimum' society again for awhile"

Anya thought and said "Well even though I think of all people you deserve this permanent vacation more than most I'll support you here"

Sam smiled and said "Thanks Anya, appreciate it" the elevator door opened and they began walking to the air pads silently. They didn't speak to each other like it were a funeral, they were about to see each other for the last time for awhile and neither could think of anything to say to the other because they thought it would just be easier that way.

As they reached the air pads they could see two Ravens almost totally filled with supplies in the mid section where soldiers would usually stand and tied up boxes sitting beside the helicopter with a large metal tether connected to the under belly. She saw Carmine was there and was hooking the second set of boxes to the bottom of the second Raven and was rolling out.

Apparently he was slowly becoming the new Baird around here even though he freely admitted he was nowhere close to Baird. He saw them coming over and saw the suitcase and said through his helmet, which he wore whenever he was on the job, it still had that dent from the sniper shot and still had the small crack in the lenses after the helicopter crash.

"Hey what's with the suitcase?" He asked quickly wiping his hands.

Sam said "I'm going with the Ravens and I'm gonna see if Cole can let me bunk with him for awhile, since I know Baird won't be happy with me hanging around his place" she said Carmine chuckled and said "Well good luck to ya, and tell Baird he better stop by one day and fix all the shit he left behind, I don't know how he does it but he can fix everything on this damn island and still have time to tinker with his own shit"

Sam chuckled "I'll make sure to tell him Carm, I'll miss you. Hopefully I'll be back one day though"

Carmine was probably smiling under his helmet hearing her say that since he had more then once hit on her before with no success, but he was fine with it he tried and failed which was a learning experience to him and he moved on. He nodded "I'll miss seeing you nice ass too…" he chuckled receiving a look from her and said "No seriously I'll miss you; we don't have enough woman like you who can tell guys like me what to do"

Sam smiled knowing he was just joking and they quickly hugged then she let him walk away to get to his other jobs. Sam watched him walk away and remembered the few times with Carmine where he seemed to open up to her, she respectfully let him down since they were friends and he respectfully backed off knowing not to mess with her but still kept some feeling for her that by now simmered to almost nothing. He hadn't shut himself out it actually made the two closer and they got to be better friends then before.

She then turned to Anya and saw she was frowning "Aww cheer up, I'm not gonna die especially since that giant weapon went off" she pointed to the top of the hotel at the machine with had surprisingly hadn't been scrapped yet as a memorial to the fallen and Adam himself.

Anya said "I know but you're my only really close female friend and it will be kinda boring being around only guys" she said sounding a bit sadder then she wanted.

Sam said "You still got Marcus at least" she said suddenly feeling bad at that and remembered Dom, she didn't shed a tear then because she had gotten over it, mostly, and smiled to Anya who smiled back. They quickly hugged hearing the engines of the Ravens revving up and Sam yelled over the noise "Say goodbye to everyone else for me ok!?"

Anya nodded as the engines really picked up speed pushing air down at them and Sam ran forward and hopped into the crowded bay and found the best place to sit down on the boxes preparing for her flight. She looked out one last time at her friend, she was slowly backing away because of the rotor blades and they waved to each other and the bird lifted off and the side doors of the helicopter closed.

She sighed quietly knowing there was no going back now and she got comfortable, stacking a few boxes to make a chair for herself and tried to sleep as she felt the helicopter level out and surge forward.

Hours later…

Sam woke up hearing the doors open and some surprised gasps and opened her eyes. She saw two men looking at her surprised and one said "Are you supposed to be in there?"

She quickly stretched her arms and said "Ya, I want to be here" she said grabbing her suitcase and walked out. The two men who were now grabbing boxes behind her looked like Stranded confirming that the Stranded had teamed up with the Cog forces that had come here to settle.

She walked only a few feet before suddenly being bear hugged by some massive male who after a second of struggling heard the voice "SAM, great to see ya!"

She chuckled knowing it was Cole and said "Nice to see you again too Cole"

Cole let her go and she got back on to her feet and said "Sam, it's so great to see you again but why'd you come here?" he knew it wasn't forced or a prank since her back looked almost bursting so he assumed she was here to stay.

Sam explained her reasoning and he seemed to understand "Oh I get it, like you just wanted to get away from your life for awhile"

Sam nodded and Cole said "Well anyway let's get you to my place I don't want you wandering around here by yourself, some people haven't seen women like you and the few we have are taken"

Sam looked around and tensed and bit and now really wanted her armor but was happy Cole was around. He was still wearing his army pants and a black muscle shirt; he also had his green headband like before too.

They walked down the crappy streets and she suddenly noticed, this was where they had landed last time when they first came to Hanover for supplies. There were no stalks and only the holes they had left behind and lots of cars that had been abandoned still littered the streets. All the bodies had been removed though probably for sanitary reasons and because they were very depressing to see constantly.

Cole led her to a building that was ironically the building that she had made a crack about with Baird almost a year ago but Cole kept walking past it to a small apartment building and opened the door. They walked down the run down hall and Cole opened the door to reveal a small room with only a bed, chairs around a table, closet, and drawers for clothes which he probably didn't have much of. On the wall was large Cougar's poster with him on it and on top of the drawer was a small box with a ring inside and a trophy on it too.

"Nice place" she said being truthful speaking in terms of stranded standards.

Cole said "Ya, its home, but not like the rooms back on Azura. I made it bit roomier by adding my all-star ring and my MVP trophy that the cougar stadium fans found back when they came back to the salvage what they could from the Lambent attack, despite what their leader thought of us they gave these back to me believing I deserved them"

Sam smiled and said "Well I was gonna ask if I could bunk in here with you but there' literally no room for me so I'll have to find myself another place"

Cole frowned "Ya sorry about that, I wasn't expecting anyone to drop by ever and since Baird never comes over I didn't bother making it look good"

Sam nodded and said "Well where does Baird live anyway?" she asked suddenly remembering he was around her somewhere too.

Cole said "Well you have to go down Sovereign street then go down Melanie boulevard and… that's right the signs are gone, here I'll draw you up some direction" He wrote on a scrap piece of paper and it had directions to Bairds place and he let her have it.

"I'll keep your luggage here if you want?" Cole asked

Sam nodded in thanks and left to go find Baird and mess with him.

Sam walked through the streets seeing memories flood back. She could remember the Lambent and how they started showing their more advanced forms that day including the drudge, gunker, drone form and they seemed… smarter somehow. She shivered remembering that first time they saw a drudge mutate and it grossed her out so much. That's when she saw the stupid playground that they first saw it at. She walked over and saw the playground was exactly how they left it and pushed one of the rocking toys making it squeak really loudly.

Suddenly she heard a gruff but familiar voice and her heart filled with dread "Well hello again little lady" she turned to see the asshole they first encountered when they arrived in Hanover, the guy who wanted to trade her for a slice of bacon.

"Well look who crawled out of the garbage" she said turning to face him. He unfortunately was accompanied by another man about his size too and they had something in their eyes she didn't like and remembering what he said last time she knew what it was.

"We saw you passing by and wanted to 'welcome' you" he smirked both taking a menacing step forward.

She took a step back but her back hit the small jungle gym and she suddenly felt her heart rate increase when they smiled from her predicament.

"Alright guys I'll give you two choices, I can either break both your balls and make reproduction irrelevant or you can walk away with your boys intact" she threatened but they didn't care.

They lunged at her pinning her against the playground stuff and she tried to fight back. Damn she missed her Lancer right now. She struggled to no avail and soon the men were on the road to getting what they wanted when suddenly a loud BANG! Could be heard making the two men scatter like rats knowing exactly what the noise was, gunfire.

She looked up to see a familiar face, Baird holding a shotgun which was now smoking out the barrel and he cocked it just in case they came back and said "Alright, why'd the evil temptress come to my shit hole of the world?"

Sam looked at him and noticed he was still wearing the goggles he wore everywhere, chest armor was gone but his army pants were still part of his wardrobe. He was still just as strong looking when she last saw him. His clothes looked ragged and dirty from months of scrounging through metal and dirt.

He walked over and reached out his hand to help her up and she grabbed it and got up with his help "Nice to see you too Baird" she said dusting the dirt off her pants.

Baird rolled his eyes and said "Why'd you come here Sam I thought you would've wised up and stayed on your resort island forever. Or did you miss my manly physique?" he joked suddenly getting an angry scowl from Sam who obviously didn't appreciate the comment.

"Whatever, well I guess you're actually looking for me so come on" Baird said turning around and walked down the street with her following.

He walked silently obviously not wanting to talk and Sam felt she owed him thanks for coming to her aid when she, and she hated to admit it, was in need of help. "Hey Baird… thanks… for the help back there"

Baird took a second to answer her keeping his back to her the whole time "Don't mention it… seriously don't mention it"

She rolled her eyes as he once again blew off any attempt at being nice to him but also felt hurt a bit by this but shrugged it off and followed him to a rundown looking building that had a garage door. He pulled something out of his pocket when they were about just across the street making the door open up.

As they approached the building she saw a sign on the small patch of lawn that read "Unless you have a job for me FUCK OFF!" Man he was really secluding himself from the world. She felt bad for him because he was even further from people than ever.

As the garage door opened it revealed a workshop with a car engine suspended above the ground and a few other projects. There was a small shitty mattress up against the wall where he slept and she asked "You sleep in here too?"

He turned "When I get a chance to sleep" he said putting the shotgun on the wall which had a sawed off, lancer and a gorgon pistol too. He turned to face her and she finally noticed the heavy bags under his eyes.

"You look exhausted" Sam said showing concern and instantly regretted it before he spoke.

"Sam how about you worry about your beauty sleep and I'll make sure this fragile community doesn't fall apart and explode in someone's face ok?" It wasn't a great a comeback as he normally did but that was probably because he was exhausted.

Sam rolled her eyes but saw him start quickly screw a few bolts. On his hands were several scratches, cuts, bruises and even some burn marks on them and she asked "You're too tired Baird, look you've been hurting your hands from clumsiness. Take a rest Blondie"

Baird stayed quiet hoping that not answering would make her go away and started working on the engine. He lazily fixed a cylinder while Sam noticed something else that was different about him. He was so pale. He obviously spent way too much time in here and if he went out it was mostly during the night. She didn't bring it up and walked around the garage.

She saw tools everywhere on the racks varying in almost every since, some more rusted or dull then others and she asked "How'd you get all this stuff?"

Baird simply said "I scavenged for it, traded for some I even have a lot of scrap metal in the back, that's where some of my scratches came from" he said trying to explain how he got his minor injuries not from sleeping problems.

She guessed maybe sometimes that would happen but his hands are way to scarred or damaged to believe that, he's more careful then that.

"Don't you dare try to pull the wool over my eyes Baird, you're too tired to do anything efficiently, you need to take a rest" She was right behind him and put her hands on his shoulders making him tense up and stop working.

"Sam let go, I need this engine done by tomorrow and if I don't then a project for making food won't get going on time" He refused to look at her making her think he was lying. She looked at the engine and realized it was a just a small car engine and would be basically useless in agriculture.

"That's a car engine" she merely said making Baird drop his tools and turn.

"O-K! I think it's time you left. So long, see ya, goodbye" he said starting to push her.

Sam was so thrown off by this she didn't resist for a second giving him a huge advantage and she just stopped him right before he pushed her completely out of the garage. She quickly turned around grabbing his arm putting his arm behind his back in a hold that would break it if she wanted to and said "You're not getting rid of me that easily Blondie" she chuckled.

He grunted and said "Let go of me Sam, I swear rot god when I get out I'm gonna…"

"You'll do what?!" she said wrenching his arm slightly making him cringe

"You bitch why the hell do you have to curse my life and come to the one place I have where no one bothers me" He said angrily.

Sam scowled at him and said "Why are YOU such a dickhead, and hide away from the world like the bathroom on Vectes. Now you're going even more extreme and hanging out here! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Baird shut up and looked away just enough so only his small stubble was the only thing she could see on his face.

Sam was worried by that and said more questioningly with less anger "Baird?" he still didn't respond "… Damon?"

He stiffened up and suddenly picked backwards hitting her shin making her cringe and lose her grip and he slipped out of her arm lock and pushed her away out of battle instinct making her stumble back. Unfortunately his toolbox was right there and she tripped over it and she fell onto some scrap metal that was laying around which, once again unfortunately, had very sharp edges and her arm slid across the edge cutting a large gash on the outside of her arm from her elbow to her wrist.

"Ahhh!" Sam yelped in pain clutching her arm as it bled.

For a second Baird didn't notice but saw the blood drip on the floor and gasped "Oh Sam I'm so sorry!?" his instincts kicked in and he ran for a small first aid kit that he hadn't used much and pulled out a roll of bandages.

He ran over careful not to trip over anything too and kneeled down and started wrapping the bandage around her arm which was bleeding quite a bit. He finished just using every inch of the role and thought "Shit now what will I use if that happens or worse?"

It was cut short when suddenly Sam pushed him back and in his low crouch forced him to lose balance and he fell on his ass. "You dickhead, why'd you do that?!" She rubbed her arm then looked back at him waiting for his answer.

"I-I'm sorry Sam I just…" he stuttered but was interrupted.

"Shut up Baird, I don't know why I came here in the first place!"she said angrily getting up and walking out of the garage.

Baird watched her for a second having no words to say but got up and said "Hey wait, please I'm sorry I seriously didn't mean it" he pleaded and suddenly wondered why he was pleading to her. Wasn't this what he wanted… didn't he want to be left alone?

She turned with an angry glare and said "Piss off Baird, I came here to see how you and Cole are doing and I found out. Coles happy with what he has and you're just hiding away in your new lair like on Vectes. You know why I pestered you so much? Because I wanted you to be outside and enjoy the life YOU MADE for all of us with your quick thinking when you and Marcus blew up the giant mutated Brumak with the Hammer. Then we found Vectes and we could live and what'd you do? You found the nearest bathroom and planted your ass there to rot"

Baird stared at her dumbfounded unable to think of anything to say sine he had brooded over those days too and regretted wasting away his days in there doing 'work' and not the kind of work that involved his lower region either.

Sam saw he had nothing and said "Finally, the loud mouthed Baird has nothing to say" she turned but clutched her arm because it was still numb and heard him said "Sam! Come back, that injury is only going to attract more the 'vultures" he said meaning the dickhead and his friend from before.

This made her stop and slouch knowing he was absolutely right and turned walking back even thought she wanted to be as far away from the blond as possible. She walked inside the garage making sure not to trip over anything and passed by Baird to the door that entered the house and said "Anything inside?" already opening it.

Baird followed and said starting to get his 'near no emotion' voice back "Ya there's a couch but it's shitty" he followed behind her seeing the bad hallways that had rotted for several years and other stuff was decaying as well. Almost all the photos were gone now and the few that were too big or accidently forgot faced down on the tables or drawers and the wall pictures faced the wall. Baird hadn't wanted to face the family who last owned the house.

Sam said "I don't care, it's better than Coles place, there's literally no room for anyone else" Baird remembered the few times he came over to Coles place and remembering how cramped it was in there and nodded.

Sam tested the couch and lay down and said "Eh, still not as bad the cot on the Sovereign. Well I'm taking a nap, see you later" she said still angry at him and faced the back of the couch and started to sleep.

Baird looked at her a moment and saw her left arm in the bandages and suddenly felt horrible for hurting her but couldn't figure out how to make it up to her and so he did what he had done for the last six months, he went to the garage and started working on nothing.

Hour later Sam awoke and stretched and felt her arm was still numb. She remembered the bandage and rolled her eyes remembering who had caused it. She got up and knowing there wasn't anything to find in the house that Baird owned because everything was in the damn garage so she walked to the door and opened it.

She was greeted with the sound of loud snoring and she looked over to see Baird had fallen asleep leaning on the engine and was basically supported him or else he'd be flat faced on the floor. She shook her head and walked over. She pulled him off and got his arm around the back of her neck and carried him to his crappy bed.

As she approached she lost her balance and fell with Baird onto the bed. She thanked whoever was watching that the bed was able to support both her and Bairds weight and noticed his face was very close to hers except he was somehow still asleep.

She cringed at his bad breath and slid out from under his arm and pulled the rest of his body onto the bed and panted lightly since he was heavier than before, probably gained some pounds. She shook her head and looked around again without the distraction of Baird this time.

She eventually found a small book that was old but still usable. She opened it and saw Baird handwriting. Most of the pages were filled with schematics of things he had wanted to work on but probably never got to, some being more efficient generators, changing cars so they ran on something besides imulsion and old fashion fuels. There were even some new weapons designs. A lot of pages were ripped out, probably ideas he changed his mind on but she flipped to the end and found a page with actual words on it.

"It came to my head to again, that damn dream... DAMN IT this is why I don't sleep! Why does it keep coming back? I thought I left to get away from all that but now I can't forget about them and..."It cut off suddenly with a few dots like he were debating to finish it but didn't.

She was confused by this but suddenly heard Baird moving in his sleep and mumble "Stupid… bitch… why are you so…" he mumbled the last word and drifted back fully to sleep but Sam was pretty sure who he was talking about and scowled making sure to talk to him when he woke up.

She closed the book and carefully put it back in the exact spot she found it knowing Baird was kinda paranoid when she was around and sometimes he knew she had scrounged through his stuff before she even mentioned it.

She walked some more seeing other things like small figures made of scrap metal, some other things made from wood and even some that were mixed together. She then found one that was drapped in a tarp completely covering it. She could tell it was round from the top and reached for it when suddenly she someone grabbed her arm.

"Don't touch that" Bairds voice said as he pulled her arm down slightly furthering his point.

Sam looked over seeing he was still exhausted looking and frowned but said "Why, is it incomplete? I promise I won't bash it" she totally lied and was going to but he slapped her hand down again.

"It's not polite to go through peoples stuff" he said walking in between her and the object.

She scoffed and said "That hasn't stopped me before, now let me see it!"

Baird silently stood there answering her question and she scoffed again turning around in frustration.

"So when are you planning on leaving? My place I mean" Baird suddenly asked making Sam stop and think 'well thanks a lot dickhead I missed you too'

She turned around and said "Well that's the thing, I've worked in the couch and I'm planning on staying here, I just need to get my stuff from Cole" she smirked seeing his instantly horrified reaction.

He put two fingers to his eyes in frustration sighing "Ya… like I didn't expect that. Fine but if you get in my way I'm kicking you out"

Sam rolled her eyes and said "Not if I have a say in it" she smirked but walked away and Baird said surprisingly "Take one of my guns, you may need it"

She was surprised that he'd even allow her to touch his guns but shrugged and grabbed the shotgun and left. She walked back to Coles place with no incident and knocked on his door.

He answered and saw the gun almost instinctively rammed her into the wall realized it was her and stopped himself "Shit Sam… you scared the crap out of me" He panted for a second taking a deep breath.

"Sorry Cole, just needed to bring a gun, that jackass from the first time we were here that tried to trade me for bacon attacked me on the way to Baird but luckily he was around and scared em off"

Cole was surprised by this "and said "Wait, he was out of the garage, during the day. That's odd"

Sam nodded knowing what he meant and said "Well anyway I need my stuff; I'm crashing on a couch inside the place he works at"

Cole was even more surprised "He's… letting you live there… man did you hit him in the head or something. I can barely get him to let me touch his tools"

Sam chuckled and said "Ya, I'm gonna work out those kinks too, I'll try to get him outside more too while I'm stuck here"

Cole nodded and grabbed her bag and handed it over and said "Good luck; he really needs someone helping him. I mean he barely sleeps, but you probably noticed by now"

Sam nodded and said "I'll drop by soon Cole, thanks for the help"

She walked all the way back to Bairds place and saw smoke coming from behind the building and thought 'shit if Baird passed out and started a fire…" she never finished the thought as she ran around the side of the building and looked around the corner.

She was surprised and horrified to see Baird holding a wooden head… that was her. He was holding a wooden bust of her head, in fact he had a few that all looked like her. Some looked more edged and incomplete then other but they were all clearly her and he threw the one he was holding in the fire and watched it burn before picking up another.

She spun back behind the wall and thought "Holy shit, he's homicidal"

**HOLY **** that was so dam long! It's still not done, this was supposed to be a oneshot but it so much more time and space I said 'screw this!" so here's the first chapter, all 8.5 thousand words of it. This is the single longest piece of writing I've ever done the next highest being only half so I was like BOOYA so anyway thanks for reading all the way through this because I could (at least in one sitting) so tell me what you think. Damn my head hurt from all those words.**

**Admiralkirk**


	2. Psycho

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter two**

**A/N Hey guys, I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this because I HATED tat long chapter and now they'll be shorter. As for one review from silentfyre I wanted to PM you back but I couldn't so I guess that just means you've turned your PMing option off. I know it's not that important but I like to respond to people who review as much as I can. Anyway thanks for the positive review. Ok as for the homicidal thing I'll explain it.**

Sam walked down the small pathway at the side of the building still thinking about what she just saw. How could she no? She just saw Baird; a man that she thought was a total asshole on a few levels but never thought of him as a homicidal person. Now she really wished she hadn't messed with him all through the time they'd known each other because now she was pretty sure he wanted her dead.

She heard him coming and ran for the driveway and was stopped by "Hey! Sam that's not the way to the garage!" obviously making fun of her so she turned scared to but didn't want to raise suspicion.

She walked up and said "Sorry I, saw the smoke and assumed you were doing something"

Baird looked at her with one eyebrow raised "Umm, ya I was just burning some stuff but how does that stop you from unloading your stuff?" His arms were crossed as he stood in her way so she'd have to answer the question.

'_Shit, that smart bastard has already figured me out. Oh god why…_' she stopped her thought seeing she was wasting time making herself look even more guilty and said "I don't know, you hated it when I got into your work so I decided to stay out of it"

Baird eyed her again "That's never stopped you before?"

'_shit, too smart for your own good_' she thought and then said "Ok you know what it doesn't matter, just let me unpack" pushing past him and could practically feel his gaze on her.

"Wow someone got pissy fast" Baird said letting her go and thought about what had just happened.

Sam opened the door leading inside and sighed as she finally left his view and sar down on the couch her suitcase to the left of her feet. '_What having you sodding you yourself into this time Sam?_' she asked herself still trying to wrap her head around what just happened.

She sat there for awhile remembering that image in her head that was of a wooden version of her head burning and Baird just watching make her sick and made her feel almost crazy for trusting Baird all those years. But why hadn't he just dropped her back then, stabbed her in the back while no one was watching. Who would ever gues or even think Baird would have killed her. '_Maybe he's even smarter then he lets on and he knew that killing any human back then would lower the odds of survival for him and was just coasting along until an opportunity to finish the war? Then he knew he could do whatever without as much drawbacks. That's why he was such a dick head to everyone, that's why he secludes himself whenever he has a chance. Maybe that story about his shitty life was all a cover up to explain his anti social behavior…' _even more ideas like this swirled in her head until she heard the door from the garage open and knew who it was.

"Hey Sam, about earlier… when you said I seclude myself to often…" Baird began but Sam started talking.

"NO… I mean, no it's ok. I understand, you're just being you and I shouldn't have tried to change that" she said looking down trying to look as sorry as possible.

Baird froze at how fast she just gave in and apologized and said "Ummm… wow that was way easier than I expected. Are you sure you didn't bump you head on your flight here?"

She shook her head and Baird shrugged and went back to his garage.

Sa let out a breath she had been holding and thought _'I need to talk to Cole about this' _but then she looked around and saw that the rotting building had collapsed the ceiling just above the front door leaving debris in front of the door, so even if she could clear it Baird would definitely hear her clearing it. The back door was out because the path at the side of the house came out right beside the garage door so he'd see her. She groaned seeing no easy way out this she decided just to look around and try to act normal until and opening appeared.

She brought her suitcase upstairs and found a closet with a note _"This one's mine, use the other one"_ It was Bairds handwriting and she was very tempted to look inside but resisted the urge to and walked to the next room which was almost completely bland except a dresser and the smaller closet then the other one and found herself a bit pissed off _'Right, leave the smaller closet to the woman'_ She shook her head and opened the door and instantly smelt something bad, probably mold.

"Gross, so Baird only bothered to fix and maintain the things he used" she shook her head speaking out loud and after moving some webs and collecting a few hangars from another room hung her clothes inside and placed the suitcase and what was left inside of it below the hanging clothes. "There, finally unpacked"

She walked back downstairs and looked at the front door and the debris. She hadn't noticed before when she pasted by that there were supports on the walls holding up what was left of the ceiling around it so more didn't fall and Sam said "Well he made sure the house won't fall down from there at least"

She was surprised that the house wasn't as destroyed as she initially expected because of Baird and in some places it looked like he had fixed it up. Like the ceiling in another place looked newer probably meaning it fell apart too and he fixed it.

She heard the door open again and walked over to see him look towards the couch and scratch his head probably thinking where she had gone but she was right behind him and said "Oi Blondie, back here"

Baird jumped a bit not expecting her there and said "Oh, Sam. I guess you went upstairs to unpack?"

She nodded "No thanks to your shitty house work, that closet looks like it hasn't been opened in literally a hundred years"

Baird scratched his head "Ya… I haven't gotten to that quite yet"

She huffed "Really, you haven't gotten the ceiling fixed either too which worries me more" she said pointing back with her thumb at the open hole.

Baird said "Ya, I actually only added those supports a few days ago" he chuckled

"Oh so you've just been living here in an unstable house for nine months hoping it didn't crush you?" she joked.

Baird said "Ehh shut up, it's not like anyone would miss me anyway, especially now that you know I do nothing for the community"

Sam felt sorry for him when he said that but didn't mention it and said "Did people used to come here for help?"

He nodded and said "Ya but only a month, by then they either got pissed off with how I work people or I fixed things so well they never needed it fixed for awhile" he sighed.

Sam thought and despite what she had recently learned about him in the backyard she said "Why don't you get your name out there again, I mean your skills can't just be wasted on random stuff that will go nowhere. I bet you could help with a generator or something back in the main area"

Baird sighed but said "Maybe, I haven't been over there in awhile so maybe I'll drop by tomorrow" he actually smiled making Sam smile back.

"Ok Blondie, if you're gonna do that you might want to go have a proper night's sleep, ok?" Sam said.

He didn't seem to like the idea but said "Ya… I'll do that"

She could tell he wasn't crazy about the idea and said "I'll go with you if it helps"

Baird looked back and said "Ya, me walking around with a girl… who happens to be you. That will increase my street cred" He said meaning it in a bad way.

Sam said "Well since not many people know who I am they'll just think I'm your escort because no woman would rationally walk with you unless they got something for it" she smirked knowing she won that one and Baird just rolled his eyes with a angry sigh before walking away.

Sam yelled after him "I swear if I hear anything going on in there tonight I'll knock your ass out"

Baird yelled back annoyed "Yes MOM!"

She chuckled going to the couch and found some old blankets. She pulled off her shoes and covered herself with the blankets and fell asleep.

**Hours later…**

Sam awoke to sounds of a saw and sighed '_damn it Baird_' but then she remembered the new things she learned '_shit, what is he doing, could he be getting ready to off me?_"

She got up silently and didn't bother to put on her shoes and crept to the garage door just down the hall. As she approached the noise stayed right until she opened the door worrying her but she kept going. She found Baird standing over the saw and holding another wooden head of her.

"Arg! It's still not right!" he said to himself not even realizing Sam was watching.

'_Right what does he mean by that?_"Sam thought trying to understand what was happening when she heard him speak again.

"Damn, well off to fire pit for you too" he said frowning a bit and walked out of the garage to go out back. Sam knew what he was doing so she didn't follow but still thought over what he had said.

'_what's he mean by not being perfect, does he like to have a wooden bust of me for other reasons then burning them_?' she thought trying to figure out why Baird would have said what he did and wondered what the 'perfect' ones were for. Maybe they were to shoot at or to some other psycho reason that she couldn't possibly think of. He obviously burned the non-perfect ones because he didn't like them and so someone, like her, wouldn't discover his secret pass time.

She decided that after tonight she would accompany him to the main settlement then get away from him and tell Cole what she had learned. Hopefully he'd believe her, but she'd have to get through the night without letting Baird know she knew what he did or avoid just getting her throat slit.

She dashed for the couch hearing the garage close from behind the door and pretended to fall asleep. She heard the door open then close but luckily he went back inside. There were no more noises the rest of the night.

**Well there you go. As I stated above this is much shorter I hope you're ok with that. Tell me what you think or drop and idea in a review, or try to guess what exactly Baird is up to. Or send me a critique, I appreciate those ones. Other than that thanks for reading on and if you're interested in Spyro the dragon (even though that's a very far stretch from Gears of war) check out my other stuff, or look at my SamxCarmine story that I plan to continue at some point. Thanks for reading.**

**Admiralkirk**


	3. Suprises

**Worlds Apart**

**A/N Ok here's the newest chapter, if some of you think this took awhile it's because I'm getting really close to final exams at school so I'm trying to juggle school with my writing and last time I checked school is more important than getting a chapter out fast. So sorry for the speed problem, I promise once school is over this will take far less time.**

In the morning Sam awoke to sun in her face and groaned. She flipped over get the sun away from her face and mumbled "That was the one good thing about the ships, no windows" She eventually heard someone else moving around the house and looked over to see Baird walking around without his shirt but still had his pants from yesterday on and was making breakfast.

He obviously hadn't noticed her awake because he didn't look over at her and started making a breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon and toast. He had even a toaster, that was kinda impressive since minor machines like that had been left to rust but from what she could see it was made of multiple toaster since one side was chrome and the other was plastic and black.

She lied there seeing an easy breakfast and soon the smell of toast and bacon filled the air and she got up and stretched. She walked by unnoticed and got dressed and came back downstairs. She entered the kitchen and said "Hey Blondie, what you making?" she knew but asked anyway.

Baird looked back and said "Well if you must know it's eggs, bacon and toast. I guess you want some?"

Sam rolled her eyes at his rude reply but nodded and sat down at the small table as Baird laid out a plate with about half of the food he made for her which threw her off. He usually didn't share that much and when he did he was very stingy about it but this, this caught her off guard.

Baird sat down and took a bite of the bacon and asked probably trying to be kind but sounded like he didn't want to actually know "So how was your sleep?"

Sam looked at him already cutting her first egg "It was fine, a bit bad on the back but still more comfortable then the cots on the ship"

Baird nodded and yawned strengthening the fact he was up last night as he continued to eat. Sam eyed him and he noticed "What? Hey my eyes are up here" he said noticing her stare.

She glared at him and said "Real mature Baird, I wouldn't be attracted to you if you and I were the only humans left"

Baird said "Right, you couldn't resist my charms, why do you think you came here to see me"

This made Sam freeze for half a second but she said "No I didn't, I came here to get away from Azura for awhile and to see you AND Cole because you're my friends. Friends can't come and check up on each other!?"

Baird stared at her for a moment before getting back to eating having no response which troubled Sam but also made her feel proud for beating him.

They soon finished eating and Baird took the dishes to wash allowing Sam to sit back and relax for a second. He finally said something since his rude comment "So… you left Azura to get back into the harsh life. Even though I personally think you should have to suffer with me I have to ask, why run from your easy life. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

Sam was surprised he asked but wasn't surprised he added that extra part and said "Well I've been in the shit most my life and it's hard to get out of the habit. I mean I know after the war you were still twitchy from the slightest noises"

Baird said emotionlessly "If I remember right all of us were jumpy, hell last time I saw Cole he was still jumpy. I'd tap his shoulder and he'd turn like windup toy and he'd have that killer instinct in his eye expecting a grub or glowy to be there. Once he almost ripped my arm off when I grabbed his shoulder, he grabbed it saw it was me and solemnly told me he was just being jumpy" he said remembering back when he actually left his garage for things other than food and supplies.

Sam nodded and said "Ya, Marcus still has the thousand mile stare and occasionally while talking to him he'll just zone out entirely and he'll sometimes bare his teeth at you when you nudge him but stop when he gets his senses back. The only people who seems to be getting past it all is Jace and Carmine, except he occasionally has a bad day and drinks his sorrows away and ends up punching someone out who tries to use his brothers cheer him up by saying something like 'think about your brothers, would they want to see you like this?"

Baird looked away and suddenly asked leaning against the counter "What about you?"

Sam looked at him with surprise and wondered why he cared but said "I… I think about Dom sometimes, I mean you know why you always joked about it back then. I still see him in my dreams sometimes and he… he seems to happy but he always changes and everything turns bad and he starts to burn and I wake up" she now had a tear in her eye and looked away from Baird expecting a comment calling her weak for crying but all she got was a sigh that hinted something other than boredom.

"… It's… it's alright Sam, we all miss him" was all that Baird could allow himself to say and he walked out of the kitchen to go to the garage and said "Come get me when you want to leave"

Sam watched him leave still shocked that he had actually said something even semi-comforting and sat there for a few minutes to get her senses back before getting up and walked to the garage door. Baird was in at the far wall leaning over something but when he heard the door open he looked back and to reveal that book she read and he closed it.

"So I guess you're ready to go?" Baird asked.

Sam nodded and was already heading for the outside and Baird followed having put on a shirt now which was just his white dirty muscle shirt. He grabbed his shotgun just in case someone thought they could mess with them and they walked down the street.

After a minute Sam asked "What were you doing with that book?"

Baird calmly said "I was catching up on some of my blueprints to see what things I should look for to make them. I haven't looked for stuff there in awhile but I should probably look since I have to come with you"

Sam smirked knowing she had final say again but said "If you go to get food and stuff there how do you not visit the hawkers?"

Baird sighed and said "I have a guy who sends me my weekly rations so I don't have to leave"

Sam looked at him and worried that he may be doing other things to exclude himself from the town but they kept walking and she asked "So what exactly have you done since you all got here?"

Baird sighed and said "Shit that was a long while ago now, I think when we first landed we had to talk down the stranded so they didn't shoot our asses and explained what the 'mysterious wave' in the sky was. After that our men and the stranded decided to live safely with each other. After about a month the stranded saw we weren't trying anything and we integrated with each other to help one another. When that was over and the last bit of tension was done I was allowed to help the stranded fix their equipment and then after that I've been laying low"

Sam nodded and asked "From the transmission we heard Cole had made his own Thrashball league with the people we met in Hanover stadium. He has lots of fun why didn't you ever join?" She hoped he had tried at least once but doubted it.

Baird said "You I'm gonna be nice and answer that with a simple, no" he obviously thought the question was stupid and made her know about it.

Sam ignored him and said "Well if it's about the fact that you're small it may help to know I may join to pass the time"

Baird laughed and said "Oh ya I can see you annoying all the players out of your way"

Sam gave him an angry look but he didn't notice since he was looking forward. They stayed quiet after that and soon arrived at the town where people were trying to sell good and other not so 'good' goods and most didn't notice Baird at first so Sam decided to ask something she hadn't asked before but the market made her remember "What do you guys use for money anyway?"

Baird smirked and said "Well since the war is over and we're trying to learn not to kill each other we've actually decided to use bullets as money, it makes it hard for people to kill each other when it means they have to literally shoot away their money"

Sam was about to say that was a bad idea but after a few extra seconds of thinking it made perfect sense "That's surprisingly a good idea"

Baird looked down at her and said "Well maybe not totally perfect since I know you'd like to put a cap up my ass sometimes, I personally love it because it gives you another reason not to kill me"

Sam laughed "Oh it would be totally worth it Baird, and besides I could kill you with my hands anyway"

Baird gulped but said "Whatever, I'll go check out some stuff and hopefully by the time you're back from whatever you're doing I'll have a wagon of supplies"

Sam nodded and she was about to turn Baird suddenly reached out with his hand and said "Here, if you want to buy something here's some bullets, I subtracted one for the bullet I used yesterday to scare off those two guys"

Sam was once again blown away by his actions and said "Thanks… Baird?" she almost thought she had mistaken this Baird for the old Baird like they were two different people.

Baird said "Don't mention it… literally" he pointed a finger but then walked away to attend to business. She watched him walk away and was now really confused "Why be so generous when he possibly wanted her dead? She couldn't answer that question and moved to Coles place wondering what she'd say to him.

As she walked she couldn't help but think if she should tell Cole her discovery, she was worried she may be wrong now and didn't want to get someone involved and piss Baird off if she was wrong. If she was he may shut her out completely for not trusting her which he obviously had just showed her by giving her some money. They had been at each other's throats before but they always knew they had each other's backs during a fight but what if she made the wrong move and ruined that small tether holding them together? Or would it spell her doom and kill her? Only time and the next few minutes would tell…

**Ok there's a new chapter, sorry it took a while it was because I'm about to do final exams and I finally found some time to type a bit. I'd like to admit that I started playing Metro 2033 lately so the idea with using bullets as money was derived from that, just so nobody calls me out of stealing the idea. Second I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully this will end soon. Lastly for anyone who reads my Spyro stuff there's poll asking who your favorite of my OC's are, you can choose up to three in case you can't make up your mind. Other than that thanks for reading the next chapter should be out soon.**

**Admiralkirk**


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